José Mourinho, Tottenham Players Flout Coronavirus’ Rules
- Spurs issues social distancing reminder
- Manager, Ndombele at London common
- Sánchez, Sessegnon jog together
Controversial football figure and Tottenham Hotspur’s manager, José Mourinho has stirred a hornet’s nest on social distancing rules over the Coronavirus pandemic in England.
The Portuguese and members of his Tottenham squad were pictured on Hadley Common in North London, ignoring government rules on the coronavirus lockdown, to train there publicly.
Footage emerged on social media of Mourinho, wearing his trademark purple Spurs training top and tracksuit bottoms, overseeing a makeshift session with Tanguy Ndombele.
In a video clip, Davinson Sánchez and Ryan Sessegnon can be seen jogging side-by-side, thereby flouting the two-metre distancing requirement.
This development has unsurprisingly aggravated the hierarchy at Spurs. But Mourinho is understood to be adamant that distancing was respected during his session on the Common.
A Spurs spokesperson said: “All of our players have been reminded to respect social distancing when exercising outdoors. We shall continue to reinforce this message.”
Spurs were already under siege after the chairman, Daniel Levy, made the controversial decision to reduce the wages of his 550 non-football staff by 20%, in some cases by placing them on furlough.
The club rank eighth-largest and richest in the world by revenue according to Deloitte and their most recent accounts showed that Levy earned £4 million – up from £3 million in 2017-18 – plus a deferred bonus of £3 million for the new stadium being completed.
The club’s Supporters’ Trust has called on Levy to follow the example of Liverpool and reverse the decision to furlough staff over the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mourinho and his players are on the spot because British government has made it plain that outdoor exercise can be undertaken only with other people from the same household. – With Goal.com
